Blue Dragon

The Core Video Games Forum
1

So yeah. I just finished Disc 1.

The first thing you should know about this game before you play it is…it ISN’T Chrono Trigger. People read names like Hironobu Sakaguchi, Nobuo Uematsu, and Akira Toriyama, and think “Oh shit, it’s guys that were on the Chrono Trigger dev team! It’s the next new Chrono Trigger!” That couldn’t be farther from the truth. If you think about it, none of those three played the role of Producer, Director, or Script Writer.

Now, on the other hand, if, when Blue Dragon was being hyped, they dropped names such as Yoshinori Kitase (One of the directors of Chrono Trigger; also director of Final Fantasy 6, 7, and 8), Kazuhiko Aoki (Producer of Chrono Trigger; is credited for inventing the “Active Time Battle System”), or Masato Kato (Script Writer for Chrono Trigger; also script writer for Xenogears)…well, THEN maybe I would have gotten excited.

In any case, the game is, to say the least, pretty childish; however, I mean that in the best way possible. The game is really fantastic, upbeat, whimsical, and doesn’t offer a very rational explanation for much of anything. The thing that makes it not suck in spite of all that, is that the game is crafted very competently; the game doesn’t offer these ‘shortcomings’ because the people behind the game’s creation sucked. On the other hand, it feels more reminiscent of when you used to watch action cartoons when you were like, five years old - they were fun and exciting, but they intentionally didn’t challenge your intellect, or your morals. They weren’t thematic, and didn’t carry any symbolism that made you scrutinize the way you go about your life. It was boyish entertainment in its most palatable form. THAT’S Blue Dragon.

This is, admittedly just my impression. I’ve only finished the first disc of three, and there are a FEW things that stand out as not-so-childish, particularly the mild vulgarity of the main character, who says things like “Damn you!” or “You bastard!” and such. I also hear that the story picks up a lot after the first disc, so for all I know, the game will take a completely different direction, starting the next time I play it. I doubt that the change will be incredibly drastic as far as the general feel of the game, though.

The last random thing I have to say is…the music. Wow, is it ever GOOD. When I listened to the soundtrack by itself, months ago, I didn’t even have a second thought about it; however, the soundtrack is VERY good in the context of the game. Also, a returning aspect of Uematsu’s compositions that I haven’t heard in a long time, are his sick-ass basslines. If you listen a lot to Uematsu, you’ll notice that his basslines back in the ol’ SNES days were a lot more flavorful. Well, the basslines in Blue Dragon are way more in the vein of his older music. This might seem trifling to most people that read this; but, I’ve always thought that those types of basslines were a highly definitive characteristic of Uematsu’s compositions.

Anyways, that’s my impression of the game so far. I knew it wasn’t gonna be the greatest game since Sliced Bread - The Video Game; but, I knew I could expect it to hold a certain level of quality, and I’m glad to know I was correct about that.

2

I got it a couple days ago but I haven’t had the chance to start up on it. I have so many things to play, its crazy.

3

I’m in the same damn boat, I’ve got too many games I’ve bought and hardly even played.

4

My backlog is insane.

5

I don’t have a 360, but this is one of the games I would certainly get if I ever get one…

6

I got the game a while back and am loving it. Honestly, my first impression was pretty similar to yours, SG. The game’s been really fun and light hearted, though I think whoever designed some of the achievements for the game is a cruel bastard.

I love the music- especially the boss battle music which is so over the top and ridiculous. I couldn’t stop laughing the first time I heard it.

I’m halfway(?) through the 2nd disc, and the story has picked up somewhat, but it still maintains the same character as it has. It’s definitely better than I expected after playing the demo, which I thought was a complete and utter failure at portraying the game.

7

Lol! I had heard the soundtrack way back when it came out, so I guess I had a long time to mentally prepare for the boss fight song. Can you believe it - that’s the lead singer from Deep Purple!? For me, discovering THAT was the funniest part of the whole song :stuck_out_tongue:

Either way, it’s good to hear that the game maintains the same general atmosphere - can’t wait to start up disc 2 tonight.

8

Oh wow, that does make it even better. I was just thinking it was some random guy trying to sound like Ozzie Osbourne.

Disc 2’s been good- going to try to get further in it today. What class combinations are you using?

9

I haven’t even bothered changing classes yet, cos I’m so close to learning all the skills of each characters default class. After that, I’m really not sure what I wanna do; I could make everyone a Generalist, but I’m not sure how hot that would go…I could alternate the melee-type classes between Shu, Maro, and Zola, and have Jiro and Kluke start on the other two magic classes…I’m not exactly sure what I wanna do. All I know is that Guardian doesn’t sound like a particularly useful class, unless your party is comprised of like 3-4 casters, so fuck that.

I think I’m gonna see how Generalists fare on the battlefield, and make my decision from there. I haven’t needed extra skill and accessory slots yet; but, I can see it becoming a necesity as you develop more classes.

10

I just beat the first boss and all I can think of when I listen to the lyrics is L70ETC >_>;

Is this becoming a trend in games? This isn’t the first game I’ve seen integrate lyrics into tracks like this.

Edit:

You know, people like to write paragraphs to describe what this game is like and to say how disapointed they are at how light hearted it is since its the CT people , etc etc… when its really really simple. This is a DQ8 clone, just like how a lot of games in the past were DQ clones. Lufia was a classical DQ clone. This is more specifically a DQ8 clone. At least that’s my experience up to now. It is therefore right on target with the kind of mood and setting it wants to create. This is VERY oldschool. The gameplay and fight dynamics are very DQ like I find and the sheer preponderance of poo also makes me think of DQ.

11

Heh. I’ve never played DQ8, so I don’t really have much to compare it to in that regard…but I can see some pretty big similarities in style between in and DQ7, now that you mention it.

12

DQ8 is EXCELLENT. You should really give it a whirl. I find it ironic how DQ-like this game is considering Uematsu’s and Sakaguchi’s role in the creation of the penultimate anti-DQ series. I have to say tho, the music screams FF9 at me. Which is not a bad thing, though the main battle theme makes me think of ff7 a little bit. It is unmistakably Uematsu’s work.

As a side note, I’m level 10 and sticking with Monk , black mage and white mage. Any thoughts on the other skills / my choice of classes? Also, does the class system work like DW7 / FFT , where you get new classes based on combinations of levels you got in other classes?

13

I’d like to try more DQ games, it just feels like the combat moves so slowly. I don’t like how it’s always a bit too antiquated.

The music to me, sounds like somewhere of a mix between his stuff in FF6, FF7, and CT. It sounds a lot like his older stuff (CT, FF6), while still having that ‘contemporary’ sound of his (FF7).

I personally would leave Shu as a Sword Master, if only because your next character defaults as a Monk. Magic Swords and Mow Down can be really helpful, too. On the other hand, the Sword Master and Monk classes work really well together, so you might even consider leveling them up equally.

14

I felt DQ8 addressed some of these issues you addressed. You should def try it if you enjoy BD.

I switch Shu from SM to Monk once I got the class. At that point I already had Mow Down, which I agree is very nice to have. Its usable in Monk Class and very effective. I’m going to be getting it for Maru as well.

What I really wanted to know was for my casters. Is the barrier and the other class worth anything? What about the Assassin? What does AGI do for you in this game? I care more about end damage than dodging. And I take it from your response there is no class hierarchy beyond this?

Edit: I think I found a bug: I made Maru a SM and he sometimes attacks instantly instead of waiting a few turns when doing the charged attack.

15

RE: class hierarchy - There are only nine classes. The attacker classes (SwordMaster, Monk, Assassin, Guardian), the magic classes (White, Black, Barrier, Support), and Generalist.

Mow Down gets an upgrade - it becomes obsolete kind quick if you don’t get it, IMO. Also, it gets an ‘Absorb MP’ ability near the end of its skill set, which is really good. Also, you’ll need to keep leveling up ‘Magic Sword’ to be able to use the stronger spells with it. In the interest of saving you time, by the end of Disc 1, you should have every spell you can use up to Magic Sword lv.4 (Rank 20).

As for the casters…I really can’t tell you much, because I haven’t actually started leveling up Support and Barrier Magic. Based on looking at the skills, it sounds lke Barrier Magic has some pretty decent magic, but Support doesn’t get really good skills til much later. However, Support Magic’s last skill is Double Cast, which sounds pretty sweet in general.

I don’t know much about agility stats, so I can’t tell you much about Assassins; however, the last character you get is an Assassin, and I CAN tell you that they get really good skills. One of my favorite skills is the Assassin skill ‘Long Range’, which allows you to not only to deal the same damage in the back row as you do in the front row, but it also allows you to attack enemies in the back row! VERY nice. Their final skill also allows you to attack twice.

Lastly, about the charge thing…sometimes, you just attack faster than expected in certain situations. It happens usually when you hit the ‘sweet spot’, but I’ve had it happen plenty of times when I didn’t hit the sweet spot.

16

The Mow Down upgrade is definitely nice- it honestly only gets more useful. I’d go Monk with Shu til you get Battle Essence (Rank 19? I forget, honestly) which makes your attack power the same as a monk of that rank. Monks have the highest attack power, so it works nicely.

What I’d recommend doing if you don’t mind making things a fair bit easier is making everyone a generalist for a while- I did that until everyone had Accessory+2. Near the end of disc 1/beginning of disc 2, they start throwing the special accessories at you left and right, so you’ll want to be able to use them.

I’ve found magic in this game honestly to be exceedingly powerful- much more so than in most games. I’ve currently set it up so Shu is an assassin (with Mow Down, Magic Sword, Charge Attack), Jiro is a Barrier Mage (maxed White Mage class, so 50% Charge, Ress, also level 5 Black Magic and recover Mp), Kluke is currently a Support Mage (maxed Black Mage abilities though, 50% Charge, recover Mp), Maru I made a Guardian (set it up so he actually takes ALL of the single target damage for my party, working on him as a Monk again to see if I can pair Perfect Counter with that so he can counter every attack), and the last character is an Assassin as well.

The last abilities of an Assassin (Long Range, Double Attack) are ridiculously powerful, though if you go with a set up like I have, long range doesn’t overly matter since one character takes the entire beating. Pair that up with accessories that boost hp, and I have an 850+ hp tank at level 32.

Barrier Magic is of debatable use, mainly due to the fact that with a very damage oriented team, you can usually burn the bosses down before they can do much, though it does have probably the most game breaking skill possible- Field Barrier. With Field Barrier, you will instantly kill any enemy you touch and get a portion of the Sp you’d get for defeating them if you’ve killed them before. You also lose some Mp, but that amount decreases with each of the 3 ranks. This could be used to power level your jobs without much effort, but I don’t think it’d be worth doing until possibly later, just because of how unbalanced it’d make the game.

Also, what are your guys gamertags?

17

Thanks for the input!

Right now I’m trying to get my barrier up with Jiro so I can cheese my way into easier leveling with and get the skills you mentionned.

18

im only six hours in and ive been switching my classes every so often

is it smart to chance them alot or keep them the same for a long time

19

Eternity is fucking catchy.

20

So I’m on the 3rd CD , 40 hours in. My guys are absurdly overpowered. 3 monk - assassin combos just attack everything continuously. Magic IS overpowered but my casters are so slow the monk - assassins kill most of the trash anyway. Most bosses haven’t had the chance to eat more than 1-2 spells also because of that. Double cast is def nasty. I just beat the (most likely optional) water dragon in the sea thing next to Jibral and that thing was just plain ridiculous, although very enjoyable. Its pretty much the only fight in the game up to now that gave me a run for my money. Can anyone confirm / deny if there are any others like it? Its also the fight that really confirmed how absurd magic is as Kluke nailed it several times for almost 2k with Flarus when my best melee character was doing 1300 a turn. This is the exception to the rule up to now though.

Side note: Field Barrier 3 is very awesome. I got it really early and yeah now my classes are really unbalanced. I like it mostly because it saved me a lot of time. For example, in the sea thing next to Jibral, clearing room after room with 4-6 monster groups in it over and over would’ve been REALLY irritating without it. It really saves a lot of time in the end.